Facebook Inc.’s remaining partners in its digital currency project signed paperwork Monday to officially join the Libra Association, a new governing body that will oversee the social media giant’s proposed global cryptocurrency, Libra.
The Libra association’s 21 founding members — a group that shrank when numerous notable partners bailed on the project late last week — signed a formal charter in Geneva on Monday, outlining their commitment to the effort, though the new charter says that members can leave at any time. The group also appointed a board and announced the first few members of its executive leadership team. The association partners, including Uber Technologies Inc., Spotify Technology SA and Coinbase Inc., will work with Facebook to get the new currency off the ground and through regulatory scrutiny.
“Today marks an important step in our journey,” Calibra, the division inside Facebook working on the crypto project, said in a statement. “It is time for change and we are committed to seeing this through.”
The charter gives each founding member a single vote in important governance matters. The Libra Association said its inaugural five-person board will include David Marcus, the Facebook executive who has been leading this effort, and representatives from Kiva Microfunds, PayU, Xapo Holdings Ltd. and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
The official formation of the Libra Association marks an important milestone in the project’s short lifespan. When Facebook unveiled the plan in June, it listed 27 partners on the project, including a number of well-known payments companies. It was a show of strength, but also a message from Facebook that the social network wouldn’t be solely responsible. Rather, there would be other companies helping to manage the new currency, an important detail considering Facebook has been under fire for privacy lapses and is currently facing escalating antitrust scrutiny.